Mitchell had no idea how he was doing at the whole 'comforting boyfriend' thing. Lydia was strong, tougher than she realised even, but seeing her upset over Lizzie being sent away was difficult for him, making him want to just do something to fix it, somehow, anything, and being frustrated when he couldn't.
Not to mention the fact he couldn't smoke in Lydia's apartment. Not that he'd ever actually asked her permission to do it, it was just that somehow living with Hal had made him almost ashamed of the habit, that was actually pretty disgusting, if he was honest with himself. And he didn't want his girlfriend's place to stink of the stuff. So when, and only when, he knew Jane was looking after her baby sister (or was Lydia looking after Jane? Or both?) Mitchell excused himself for 'fresh air'.
If 'fresh' meant a cloud of cigarette smoke.
Because he had always thought those smokers who hung around in doorways were rather pathetic, he began to walk, mostly aimlessly, not really paying any attention to where he was going. When he bumped into someone, it wasn't exactly a surprise.
The British accent was though.
That British accent.
Mitchell froze and stared. Words stuck in his throat for a while before he finally called her name. "Lauren?"